Devon Prep's Bill Frio resigns as basketball coach

Sixteen years ago Bill Frio was looking for a change from coaching middle school basketball. He wanted to move into coaching at the high school level.

So when he was asked to join Devon Prep’s basketball program he was happy to accept. As a 1974 alumnus of the school, who also played basketball there, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Now, after nine years as JV coach and seven years as varsity coach, Frio is retiring.

He was the winningest JV coach in the school’s history and the third winningest varsity coach. He coached nearly 400 JV and varsity basketball games in that time, won several tournaments and two District 1 Class AA titles.

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“I’m leaving with mixed emotions,” said Frio. “I’ll miss the school, I’ll miss the boys. I really enjoyed coaching and being at Devon.

“I was a student there, my son went there, I have a long history with the school. But I feel good knowing that I made a difference in the lives of the boys I coached.“

Among those boys are several record-breaking athletes including Duncan Becker, the leading rebounder in school history, Jeff Hughes, the second-leading scorer and leading 3-point scorer, and two of the school’s top 10 3-point scorers, Steve Kohlbrenner and Mike Giampietro.

As much as all of the awards and records mean, however, Frio says it’s really the players, parents and coaches he met and worked with along the way that he will remember most.

“Aside from all the games we played, tournaments we won, and playoffs we’ve been in, some of my fondest memories come from the joy I got helping players and fellow coaches over the years,” he explained. “That makes you feel good as a person.

“Several years ago there was a student I took as a sophomore and started as a senior,” Frio continued.

“Apparently his experience had such an impact on him that he wrote his college essay about me. I have the essay hanging in my office. That meant more than all the tournaments and all the wins. That’s the other side of coaching. It’s not just the wins and losses.”

According to Mark Aquilante, Devon Prep’s Athletic Director, Frio’s retirement will leave a void in the school’s basketball program because he wasn’t just a coach, but also a mentor and friend.

“Bill Frio has been a huge asset to our school as our varsity basketball coach,” Aquilante said. “He has been a great coach, but more importantly, he has been a mentor and friend to our student – athletes.

“We won’t be able to replace the amount of kindness and generosity he has shown to our parents and players. His retiring is an enormous loss to our school, but we know he will remain a fixture in our Devon community.”